About Rulers

You can display and manipulate 2D or 3D area coordinate axes.

From the Tools section of the action bar, click Ruler to display the coordinate axes.

Initially, the ruler starts in 2D mode in the center of the work area. You can switch to 3D area mode using the context menu, see below.

Click to move the coordinate axes origin. The new position is stored until you change it again, close the 3D shape, or end the session.

The current measure unit is displayed at the ruler. You can specify the measure unit in Me > PreferencesGeneral > Parameters and Measure on the Units tab.

The ruler can be displayed in black or white color. To ensure visibility of the ruler also with very bright or dark background colors, it is automatically specify to the color with higher contrast to the background color.

Handle Snap

The ruler handle has a snap function allowing to position the ruler origin onto a geometry element. Depending on the element type, the handle is displayed with the following red marker after having snapped onto an element:

large dashed circle on an underlying point,
small square with an x symbol on an underlying curve,
small rhombus with an x symbol on an underlying surface.

After the handle has snapped onto an element, you can reduce the handle motion to the element by pressing and holding the shift key. Releasing the shift key while the left mouse button is pressed repositions the ruler origin to the mouse position.

Context Menu

Right-clicking the origin of the coordinate axes activates contextual commands:

Edit

You can define the following:

Components: You can specify the position of the coordinate axes origin numerically.
Position: You can select the position of the coordinate axes graphically.; Click onto the field in the dialog box and select in the work area a point as new position.

Delete

Hides the ruler.

2D Mode

Displays 2D coordinate axes parallel to the screen coordinate axes.

3D Mode

This handle also consists of two axes. The axis with the smallest angle to the view plane normal is hidden.

Unlike the 2D mode, the axes are aligned to the model coordinate system and their origin is identical with the origin of the model system. The 3D area ruler axes scale show the absolute distance from the origin of the model coordinate system.

The 3D area ruler has two additional handles to move the ruler along the corresponding axis.